Mpumalanga sees the light

Aubrey Sambo

Nelspruit - Mpumalanga's capital city is offering free energy-saving light bulbs to all its residents as part of a campaign to cut local electricity use.

All 131 000 households in Nelspruit, as well as three neighbouring towns, are being offered 20 free bulbs each to replace their existing energy inefficient bulbs.

"The new bulbs use 80% less electricity than the old ones, so the city could save massive amounts of electricity if everyone took part and changed their bulbs," said Mbombela municipal spokesperson Bessie Pienaar.

Mbombela manages Nelspruit, White River, KaNyamazane, and Matsulu.

"Residents in all the towns under our administration qualify for the free bulbs. The new bulbs are compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and are being delivered door-to-door in our poorer neighbourhoods," said Pienaar.

Residents from wealthier neighbourhoods are being asked to fetch their allotments of 20 bulbs each from community halls and other civic centres.

"The bulbs are free, but we are not just giving them away. People need to exchange their old inefficient bulbs for the new ones, so we can destroy the old stock," said Pienaar.

Helping to save money

The initiative forms part of a local partnership with Eskom's demand side management (DSM) programme, and will be rolled out nationally as partnerships are concluded with municipalities.

Pienaar emphasised on Thursday that residents are not being forced to use the new bulbs, or to surrender their older inefficient bulbs.

"We cannot force people to change, or to save electricity, but we are doing our best to encourage them to save both their own money and also to help use less electricity for the public interest," she said.

The new CFL bulbs are expected to last 10 times longer than old incandescent bulbs. The offer for free CFLs is valid only until July 18.

- African Eye